I asked Mapleshade about this very question and am posting the very interesting answer
Dear Stanley,
Walker's Talisman, like all demagnetizing devices (i.e. Bedini, Furutech, etc.), attempts to address the same problem as our Ionoclast, that is, the problem of static build up. I used super-powerful demagnetizers on my CDs for years--until my experiments showed that the demagnetizers are only an indirect way of dealing with the static problem, rather than a direct antidote for a magnetic problem that turned out to be non-existent.
Contrary to what the designers of demagnetizers usually claim, our experiments showed that there are NO significant ferrous (and therefore magnetizable) traces on CDs or LPs. So why do the demagnetizers have a slightly beneficial effect on the sound of CDs or LPs? Unbeknownst to their designers, they work because magnetic fields have the ability to move (and spread out) the "clumps" of static charge that build up on surface of the disc's plastic. It is the static (and its attendant electrostatic fields), not the non-existent magnetic charges, that degrade the sound of CDs and LPs.
Note that a magnetic field has NO ability to neutralize a static charge. Magnetic fields can only force clumps of static to move--and, in the process of moving, to spread out and become less concentrated. That spreading out lowers and smooths out the local concentrations of the electrostatic field caused by the static clumps. But magnetic forces can never change the TOTAL static energy stored on a CD or LP. That's why the beneficial effects of demagnetizers are always fairly weak.
To actually neutralize the static clumps on a disc can only be done by introducing charged particles (that is, ions) of the opposite charge. This is exactly how industrial static neutralizers (for instance, those on all electronic chip production lines) work: they blow streams of air charged with high concentrations of both plus and minus ions over the moving chips on the line. Any charged static clump on the chips will immediately start attracting ions of the opposite sign--and will keep on attracting them until the clump has totally neutralized itself with opposite charge ions. The air stream's neutralizing ions (i.e., charged molecules of air) are generated by electrodes creating high voltage (10,000 to 50,00 volt) discharges.
That's exactly how our Ionoclast works: every trigger squeeze causes a small internal piezo-electric generator to generate a 30,000 to 50,000 volt spark discharge across the two electrodes in the tip of the Ionoclast, a plus discharge on the downstroke and a minus discharge on the release stroke. Thus, there's a sizable cloud of plus and minus ionized air molecules created around the spark gap--and, by moving the Ionoclast tip across the surface of the CD or LP, you trail this cloud over every static clump and the disc becomes 100% neutralized.
The proof of the pudding is in the listening test. Take a CD that's charged with lots of static and listen to one minute of it. Then treat it with the Talisman or Bedini or Furutech. Listen again and you'll hear some improvement. Now neutralize it (both sides) with our Ionoclast. You'll hear at least an additional three times the improvement you heard with the Talisman!
Curiously enough, if you Ionoclast-neutralize a CD, listen to it, then re-treat it afterwards with a Talisman or Bedini or Furutech, you'll hear that the demagnetizers make the re-treated disc sound just a bit WORSE than the Ionoclast-neutralized disc. I am baffled to find an explanation for this, but the effect is quite repeatable.
If you need further clarification or detail, feel free to call me at 410 867-7543.
Pierre
On Jan 4, 2008, at 8:53 AM, Stanley Green wrote:
Does your Ionocast and the Walker Talisman do the same thing?
